I'm Coming to America . . . TODAY!

Wednesday, 15 April, 2020

Day XXXVIII of the Great Italian Lockdown would be my last one before starting my required 14 days of Strict Isolation upon returning to California.

Out of the frying pan, into the DEEP FRYER!

California's Strict Isolation policy means that I can not leave our house, PERIOD! 

It is Italy's Prime Directive on steroids in theory but we are on the honor system on this one.

Laurie has divided our home in half with barbed wire to insure that I do not contaminate her with the Coronavirus.

Kind of like when we first started dating in 1965.

 I awakened in my hotel room

at Rome's Fiumicino Airport

I'd had a decent but not great night of sleep caused by my excitement about today's flights.

The hotel served a continental breakfast for an extra €7.50.

Thus, the continent of Asia became my choice and, locust-like, I devoured a day's worth of calories not knowing what the food service would be like on my two flights or in the Rome and London airports.

It looked good, I was hungry and it was all-you-can-eat.

Flight #2 of my three flight

journey home, Rome to London

I was scheduled for a 9:30 a.m. take-off on another Alitalia flight that should last two hours and 55 minutes.

 Energy reserves now at their

maximum, I walked the 150 meters

from the hotel to the airport entrance

The walk to the airport was lonely

My flight to London was on-time

and loading at Gate B21!

Only Terminal 3 was being used today for the limited slate of departing flights.

Going through Security was easy as there were only two people in front of me. They only minor blip was that the Social Distancing regulations allowed only one person at a time to load their gear into the bins to be scanned.

As for the airport's amenities . . .

They were almost all closed . . .

. . . this café bar was open but I was

filled to the brim

 At 8:50 a.m. we boarded as stated

 A fine looking craft

 I think that I had an extra

2 mm of leg room on this flight as

compared to yesterday's flight

This plane, just like yesterday's Alitalia flight from Milan to Rome, offered no food or beverages. Also, there were no USB ports to charge a phone or lap top computer.

About 35 souls were ready

to head to the UK today

Again, Alitalia seated us in a manner that was Social Distancing conscious.

I had no one sitting directly in front of or behind me. Additionally, no one was sitting in the two seats to the left or to the right of my desired aisle seat.

I enjoyed my flight in fully reclined position.

During our time of global pestilence, it was a tad strange reading Alitalia's airline magazine which was largely devoted, as you might suspect, to all sorts of worldwide travel options.

Our flight took off right on time but was a bit bumpy.

We actually landed in London 35 minutes EARLY.

Flights are faster when there is no need to queue on take-off or landing.

We got this paper handed

to us just before landing

at London's Heathrow Airport . . .

. . . reminding us that there are

some health issues going on in Europe

My third and final leg of the journey

London to Los Angeles

Via a Virgin Atlantic flight

This flight was scheduled to leave at 1:30 p.m. giving me a two hour and 40 minute layover at London's usually heavily traveled, crossroads of the world style airport.

This flight should take a fun filled 11 hour and 20 minutes.

When I left Milan yesterday, even though my bags were being  sent all the way to Los Angeles, I was only given my two Alitalia boarding passes.

I was told that I would have to get my Virgin Atlantic boarding pass when I got to Heathrow.

Even though I did not have to use the Security Exit to do this, I was concerned about possible lines at the ticketing gates.

Silly me . . .

  

At Heathrow, they do not announce

your boarding gate until

one hour before departure

Finding a seat in the lounge was not difficult.

CHEERS to all of Britain's

National Health Service workers

 I could have used a last cappuccino

but it was not meant to be

Instead, I entered the only open shop

in our section of the airport in

search of additional sustenance

Their Lunch Special featured a combo consisting of a cold sandwich, a bag of chips and a bottle of water for a mere £4.99, such a deal!

Boarding pass in hand and operating on a re-filled stomach, I headed to the appropriate gate once it was announced.

I found it!

Again, NOT many people

Then I hit a minor bump as I was one of eight lucky passengers who won the Virgin Atlantic Lottery!

My prize was being called out to a separate area for a secondary inspection of my backpack and the emptying of my pockets.

Throw in a delightful pat down search and I'd hit the Trifecta!

As a final parting gift, the eight of us were told that we would be the last people to board the trans-Atlantic flight.

It sounded bad until we were told that the flight only had 44 passengers on our Airbus A350-1000 that has a seating capacity to accommodate up to 410 travelers.

 I had time to get used to my third

consecutive knee-numbing flight

This flight took off 45 minutes late.

The stated reason was that they were still stowing additional cargo aboard.

Maybe shipping non-passenger cargo with us is how Virgin Atlantic makes these lightly traveled flights somewhat more profitable.

The delay was made easier to pass thanks to some great music choices being played over the plane's public address system.

We all had lots of space to stretch out

Again, in the fully reclined position, I made the flight in relative comfort.

Virgin Atlantic's entertainment choices in films, TV shows and especially music were tremendous.

We were served three snacks on the flight including water and soft drinks. No alcohol or hot meals were being served due to, wouldn't you know it, the Coronavirus pandemic.

Again, thanks to the lack of queuing time on both sides of the Pond, a strange thing happened.

Even though we left London 45 minutes LATE, we arrived in Los Angeles 20 minutes EARLY!

I made it!

Normally, this part of LAX is PACKED

with people waiting for there loved

ones arriving from the four corners

of the globe

Not today and not for me.

Laurie and I decided last week that if I had to be isolated from her in our own home for 14 days, it made no health related sense to drive next to each other in a confined car space for an hour from the airport to Camarillo.

She hired a driver to deliver me home from the airport.

This is where I waited for my ride after

I called him saying I was now curbside

The notorious LAX traffic was no where to be seen.

I only waited for about four minutes for my driver, Scott, to whisk me away for the traffic free ride on the 405 and 101 Freeways.

When we were about to turn into our housing area we saw this sign on the wall at the corner of Las Posas and Camino la Madera.

What the . . .

As we drove the four blocks up to our home on Calle Higuera Scott and I saw these these additional signs that speak for themselves.

AMAZING!

 Finally we were at Casa Contreras

where I was greeted by Laurie

and our honking, hooting neighbors,

George and Edna

It turns out that George and Edna made and posted all of these signs today!

WOW, I was flabbergasted!

George and Edna also

dropped off some needed

supplies for my newest Bunker

THANK YOU!

Needless to say, I was both happy and humbled to be home in Casa Contreras, a.k.a., The Hotel California for the next 14 days.